He worked at the local quarry. This area of Kentucky was based on two types of industries—stone mining and agriculture. The second largest industries were healthcare and the public school systems.
And then there were the guys like this. Nick Delasi had a reputation for couch surfing, frequent job changes, and petty brushes with local law enforcement. And now this. “Can you tell me anything about Wade? Were you close?”
“Shouldn’t you have talked to Ange already? Bet she told you all about Wonder-Wade.”
The derision was hard to miss. Al made a point of shuffling the papers in front of her. She switched between studying him and studying her notes for a moment, evaluating his body language and expressions before questioning further. “I did, but we’re still trying to build a picture of who Wade—and Angela—are. We need your help. To be honest, you need the brownie points right now.”
Delasi settled back in the chair and stretched. The smirk intensified. “What do you need to know?”
“When was the last time you saw your brother-in-law?”
“Last week in the grocery store. There’s only the one. I was in there with my mother. He had the kid with him.”
“TJ?” Al hadn’t met the Heathers’s son yet, but she and Paige were going to head that way once she was finished with Delasi.
“Yeah. Little snot. I have four other nephews. This kid ain’t so special.”
“Does someone think he is?” TJ was ten years old. An only child enrolled in an online private school. From what she’d heard from other witnesses, he was a quiet, shy, extremely intelligent kid. Not a troublemaker. He participated in baseball, soccer, archery, and competitive math and science trials.
From the photos she’d seen, he reminded her of Mick at that age. Only smaller.
Everyone was smaller than Mick, though.
He’d been hovering for the entire hour they’d been in the precinct.
He’d asked her where Paige was twice already.
Al didn’t know. Sebastian had her somewhere. Mick hadn’t been pleased with that answer.
Far too overprotective, was her brother. Unlike this guy in front of her who apparently didn’t give a rat’s rear about Angela and her family.
“Mr. Delasi? Your brother-in-law was in the grocery store with his son? You were telling me about your nephew?”
“Everyone says he’s this great big brain. Genius or something. It’s all my mother talks about. How great Titus Jackson is. Stupid name. No wonder he goes by TJ now. Ange always did think she was better than the rest of us.”
“You have a problem with how she named her son?”
“Titus Jackson. What a nerd. Kid’s a whiny little punk.”
“When did you last see TJ?”
“Couple of days ago. He was at Mom’s. I’m not allowed to be there when the kid’s there. Ange doesn’t want me around him. Neither did Wonder-Wade.”
“Can you tell me why?” So they had two family members not allowed near the son—one from each side. Interesting.
Of course, she wouldn’t let this punk around her kids if she had any, either. He showed the obvious signs of his meth use, but she didn’t care about the meth—unless it had something to do with Wade.
“Said I’m not the kind of guy a kid like TJ needs to look up to. I’m not a good role model for little Mr. Perfect.”
Al didn’t disagree. The guy was a total prick. She wouldn’t want her niece, Ruthie, around him, either. “Did that make you angry?”
He snorted. “No. Just Wade and Ange being all perfect and shit.”
“Were they that way often?”
“Of course they were. Are. So smart, so successful. Tons of money. Always willing to help. Hell, what am I even supposed to say? Wade’s dead. Ange’s probably a damned mess. Thought the sun rose and set in Wade’s ass.”
“She loved him a great deal.”
He nodded. “Guess so. Sucks what happened to him.”
“Why do you and Angela not speak?” She didn’t have time to dance around this guy all day. She needed to find Paige. See how Paige had fared after she and Mick had returned from the hospital he’d insisted one of the volunteer deputies drive them to.
Paige hadn’t been happy at all. They’d been arguing when they’d left. Al could have told her to save her breath—when Mick had that particular look in his eyes, there was no use arguing.
She knew her brother well.
How well did Angela’s brother know Angela and Wade?
It was Al’s task to find out.
“She’s too perfect, and I’m not.” He shrugged. “Not much else to say, is there?”
Al had heard enough. Poor little man, blaming the rest of the world for how he behaved. He didn’t possess an ounce of personal accountability. She leaned forward and shot him a hard look. “Here’s what you need to say. You need to tell me if someone had a beef with your brother-in-law or your sister. If you know something, I need to know it now. No more screwing around. Think you can be straight with me? Your sister’s husband is dead. Your nephew lost his father. Their world did change. It just got a whole lot darker. You’re facing jail time for the little snack you were cooking up. You help me with this, and I’ll be sure to mention how helpful you were. Maybe you won’t do more than five.”
“Baby, you give me what I want, and I’ll tell you anything you need to know.”
Chapter 19
Al left the interrogation room feeling frustrated and ready for a shower. Delasi had been full of stupid quips that showed her one thing above all else. The guy had been a real skeeze.
He didn’t give a damn about what had happened to his brother-in-law. All he wanted to think about was himself.
Now he would have plenty of time to think. Carroll was in with him now, and Al could only imagine what the creepoid was saying to the skeeze.
Sometimes the people she met in this job defied understanding. And not in good ways.
Mick was in the bullpen, talking with Deputy Jacobs. She’d gotten the feeling her brother and the former vet had a few things in common.
She hadn’t spoken to Mick much about his time in the military and he didn’t offer.
Mal had told her to leave him alone about it. Not to push. Al hadn’t.
Mal and Mick had a close relationship that she wasn’t always a part of. Just like she and Mal did. And she and Mick.
It was that way with siblings. At least in her experience.
She wouldn’t trade them for anything in the world.
Even if they were a bit overprotective.
Mick had bought her lunch. It sat on the desk she and Paige had been using and had the logo of one of the only two restaurants she’d noticed in town. “Eat.”
“I will. Where’s Paige?”
Mick shrugged. “No clue. Off with Lorcan somewhere. Left about ninety minutes ago. There’s extra in the bag if you want to share it with anyone.”
“Thanks, bub. I appreciate it.”
“At least I’m earning my keep out here on Dennis’s errand.” He glowered again. Al laughed.
Her brother would never change. “Hey, you signed up to work IA. Teacher’s pet.”
The glower got darker. He always had struggled when being teased.
But he’d brought her a cheeseburger and fries exactly as she liked it. And it was huge. She used a plastic knife to cut it in half. She’d make Paige eat when she finally found her partner.
“Hey, Al.”
She turned, mouth full of cheeseburger, to find one of her favorite teammates behind her. Nugent—who hated his first name of Alistair so badly he never went by it—was waving papers around. She wiped her mouth quickly. “Find something?”
“Some emails and texts. Scratch that. Hundreds of emails and texts. Guy lived practically his whole life through email and texts. And the things he’s told women—sick. I’m still going through them now.”
“See who he emails the most. Th
at might tell us who his partners in this are.”
“You think he was working with people?”
“Definitely. This guy isn’t smart enough to buy the ingredients for meth on his own, let alone manufacture it. Someone set everything up for him and gave him a recipe. I’d bet good money on it.”
Chapter 20
No one had any motive. No one knew why Wade was a target, or if he was a target, no one had seen anything. No one could believe anything.
Paige battled back the frustration, but it was hard. Part of it was that it was an extremely rural area. The Heathers actually lived in an unincorporated zip code that spanned a one hundred square mile radius. It had been a railroad town that dried up in the nineteen forties. The original homesteads had been bought out, and farms and modulars had taken their places.
Now it was mostly agricultural and federal forest lands.
It had been sleeting, and it had been dark.
Snow still covered everything she could see.
The neighbors—who lived so far away that the Heathers’ house wasn’t even visible unless every light in the house was on—had independently mentioned that it wasn’t uncommon to go six or seven hours each day between vehicles passing.
Often the only vehicles seen all day would be the school bus twice a day and the mail carrier—four days a week. The zip code could only support a part-time mail carrier.
She never could have imagined people still lived this isolated until she started working with the bureau. It was a far cry from the urban areas she was used to.
Had someone taken advantage of that isolation deliberately—or had it just been a lucky event?
Paige climbed out of the car and shut the door quickly. She and Al had slipped out of the precinct just minutes after she and Sebastian had returned from speaking to Angela’s sister, Candace—an interview that had been a complete dead end. The woman was too upset by the murder to be able to help at all.
Seb had wanted an update on what the clinic had said.
It had been a long two hours the night before, just her and Mick.
Neither one of them had wanted to talk. But she was back now and with Al. It was time to get her head back in gear and get to work.
With the help of GPS, they’d found Angela Heathers’s mother’s home easily.
A midsized Craftsman four-square, it had red brick exterior with trim that had been painted a bright white.
Everything about Margaretta Delasi’s home said neat. Comforting. Welcoming.
Paige knocked briskly. Angela was with Jaz and Saul. At the funeral home two blocks down from the station.
Her son TJ was inside this house with his maternal grandmother.
“How do you want to handle this?” Al asked. “Split up, one of us interview the mother, the other TJ?”
“Stay together. One of us may miss something if we do separate interviews.” Paige thought for a moment, as they heard the sounds of footsteps in the hall behind the plain but well-maintained front door. “And TJ may need his grandmother with him.”
Ten years old and his whole world had just changed. It would be a tough thing for any kid to handle.
The door swung open.
An older woman who looked very much like Angela stood there. Paige and Al showed their IDs quickly. Margie nodded. “I thought you’d make your way to us eventually. How is my daughter?”
A far cry from Wade’s mother. The concern in the woman’s brown eyes was genuine. The hand she had on the small, blue-eyed boy next to her was comforting, rather than controlling.
“Is my mom ok?” His bottom lip quivered. His words were so low she almost hadn’t heard him. He clutched a plastic action figure she’d seen before. It was one that Ally’s eleven-year-old son Ryan also adored.
Paige’s heart melted. He looked just like Ally’s son Ryan in that moment. If Ryan had been hurting like this… Paige would fight heaven and earth to take that pain away. She leaned down until they were almost eye-to-eye. “Your mom is really sad and really confused right now, but she is safe. She’s going to be with you very, very soon. I promise.”
He nodded. There was such fear and pain on his young face. He was small for his age and slight. Freckles covered his nose. Brown hair stuck up everywhere. Paige just wanted to hold him, like she had Ally’s daughter when the little girl had stubbed her toe.
It was far more than a stubbed toe hurting this little guy now.
“Have you found out who hurt my dad?”
Paige shook her head, as Al spoke quietly with his grandmother. “Not yet. But I’m not stopping until I do. I promise. They shouldn’t have hurt your father like that. I’m going to make sure they understand that—and never hurt anyone else again. But we do have some questions for you, and your grandma. Do you think you can answer them for me?”
A small hand reached out for hers. Paige wrapped his fingers in her own and let him lead the way.
Chapter 21
TJ had googled her. Well, he’d looked up the people from the FBI after he’d heard Aunt Candace and his grandmother talking about something called the CCU. He’d heard they were there to find the person who’d killed his dad. They thought the FBI would be better at finding the answers than the Dover Springs police.
TJ didn’t know.
Deputy Jacobs had been by a few times. To talk. To keep his grandmother in the loop and get a few things for TJ’s mom.
TJ didn’t really want to talk to anyone yet. Not yet.
He was still trying to figure out what he and his mom were supposed to do now.
Some people had stopped by to talk to his grandma and aunt. Some had even asked if TJ’s mom had done it. Like they didn’t care that he was right there and could hear everything.
His grandma had yelled at them to leave and never come around them again.
They were just there to find out what had happened. So they could gossip.
TJ had wanted to yell at them all to go away, but he couldn’t. The best he could do was whisper.
His grandma said that was ok. That he could talk when he wanted to talk.
The lady with the dark hair had really nice eyes. Like Deputy Jacobs. Dark, dark brown. And she was really pretty, too.
His dad would probably have liked her. She wasn’t scary at all.
The other lady was super beautiful. Her hair was really blond, and her eyes brighter blue than TJ’s. When they both smiled at him, he felt a little better.
Not much, but…they were there to help.
“Yes. I can help.” It came out in a whisper, but at least he wasn’t standing there unable to talk again. At least he was doing something.
He wanted the people who’d hurt his dad to go to jail. He wanted them to know what it was like to hurt like this.
TJ wanted them to pay.
Most of all, he just wanted his dad back.
But TJ knew that was never going to happen. “I want to know who hurt my dad.”
Chapter 22
Paige had always had that magic touch with the kids that PAVAD encountered. A gift, really. She managed to get people to be at ease with her, even at some of the darkest moments of their lives—especially kids. Al didn’t have it quite that easy. It usually took all of the skills and training she’d received to get the same information Paige could get with a smile.
Al sat and listened while Paige guided TJ Heathers through the interview process, with his attentive grandmother at his side. “TJ, can you tell us about that night?”
“Mom took me to church.” He still whispered. That broke Al’s heart. The grief he so obviously felt would stay with him for a very, very long time. Why? Who had so easily destroyed this child’s world? She hoped they found the answers soon.
“Was that your mom’s idea or your dad’s? I know they took turns.” A story confirmed by the organizer of the youth group. She’d had nothing but good things to say about both of TJ’s parents and TJ.
“Dad�
��s. Mom was going to stay home and make dinner for the two of them. They say Wednesdays are Mom-Dad Nights.”
“So what changed?” Paige asked. She and TJ were sitting side by side, with colored pencils and paper in front of them. Drawing TJ’s favorite superhero characters. Paige was really good at just doodling. The little boy was gradually relaxing with Paige.
Paige had made an immediate connection with him. Al just stood back and observed.
“Dad’s phone rang. It was Mr. Whitley, I think. Dad calls him the Pain Client.”
“Do you know why?”
TJ nodded, then grabbed the red pencil with a hand that trembled. “He calls at weird times, and it always takes Dad’s attention. I don’t think he likes Mr. Whitley very much. He never says it, but I think Mr. Whitley is super-annoying. Dad was getting into the truck when his phone rang. Mom was outside with us. She was walking Murphy around so he could poop. So they switched places. Dad took Murphy, and Mom took his keys. He kissed her bye and said hurry home. And he told me to have fun, that he loved me. Told Mom he loved her, too. Mom laughed and said she knew.”
Margie gripped her grandson’s shoulders. Al understood what the woman was thinking.
It could have been her daughter instead of her son-in-law. If circumstances hadn’t played out the way they had, it would have been.
A chance phone call had been all that had changed things.
And she was torn—Margie no doubt felt guilty for being happy it wasn’t her daughter. She’d loved her son-in-law. That had been evident. The senselessness of what had happened sickened Al.
This family hadn’t deserved to hurt this way.
But Al was more than convinced that it hadn’t been Wade targeted—this most likely had been a crime of opportunity.
That shifted focus—they’d have to find out who was in that area and why.
Chapter 23
She needed a better coat. Paige, that massive irritant who got under his skin and caused Mick all sorts of problems, was going to catch her death of pneumonia. That thin, little black coat she wore just wasn’t enough for the winter storm that was about to hit. And he still saw the stains from her collision with Delasi.
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